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He nodded.
“Right...” I glanced toward the sidewalk because it felt too vulnerable to look at him while asking. “Why date me? I mean, really date me?”
Now his touch was back, a bent finger lifting my chin so I had to look at him. “Are you asking me why I’d want to go out with you?”
My cheeks heated under the intensity of his stare. “That, and... you’ve never been the kind to date before.”
A conflicted look crossed his face that made my heart clench. I tried reminding myself that it was better to know the truth than live in ignorant bliss. Especially when I had life-altering decisions to make.
“It’s simple,” he said.
That was the last thing I’d expected to hear. “It is?”
He nodded, reaching up to sweep a curl behind my ear. Then he palmed my cheek—I was beginning to love his touch. He gave his caresses so generously. “My time with you is better than my time without you. So here we are.”
His words, spoken so plainly, warmed my heart. “My time’s better with you too,” I admitted. “But what happens when I annoy you?”
With a grin, he retorted, “Who says you don’t already?”
I gave him a light shove, laughing. “Seriously, though. Are you just here for the honeymoon period and then you’re done when things get hard?” That sinking feeling returned as Liv’s warning echoed through my mind. Maybe she was right. I was too old and respected myself too much to just be someone’s good time.
A frown made a line form between his eyebrows, and he stepped closer. “My family annoys me, and I’m not getting rid of them... yet.”
I laughed a bit. “I know it’s too early to promise anything.”
Hayes gave a quick shake of his head. “Everyone likes to put a timeline on things, but that’s not me. If you’re wanting to know where I’m coming from now, I respect that.”
And just like that, he’d unwoven years of learned relationship “rules” that I tried to live by. Don’t be too clingy. Don’t be too loud. Don’t come on too strong. He was letting me be me in a way I’d never been able to exist in a relationship before.
The thought had me all choked up, so I had to swallow down the lump in my throat before saying, “That means a lot.” I took a breath and then pressed on my next question. “Why date now?”
He smiled gently and drew me under his arm, kissing my temple. “Because when it comes to you... I want to be the exception, not the rule.”
My mind raced back to that night in his house, at the conversation we had. And my heart beat a little faster, because Hayes knew I didn’t want regular. I wanted extraordinary... and he wanted to give it to me.
When he let go of me, we kept on walking the streets of Cottonwood Falls, everything looking a little brighter while walking next to him.
It was late when he brought me home, and we shared another kiss on the front porch. As he walked away, I hoped next time he would come inside.
31
HAYES
I lay on a rolling creeper underneath my brother’s cop car, working on it for my last job of the day since the other lifts were full. Knox waited on a nearby stool, drinking the last of the coffee from the lobby and shooting the shit with me.
We used to hang out a lot more, but now that he had a wife and children, the one-on-one visits happened less and less. A twinge of loss hit my gut at the thought. But I was happy for him, too—he was living the life he always wanted. “When does the sale go through on the land?” I asked him. He and Larkin were buying a plot outside of town to build a new home.
“Hopefully next Friday,” he replied. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a loan?”
I rolled out from under the cruiser and gave him a side-eye.
“Oh yeah,” he chuckled, blue eyes crinkling at the corners. “You got one to buy this place.”
“And you wrote a character reference,” I said. “Ironically.”
“Hey, I was cleaned up by then,” Knox protested. “And didn’t Dad have to guarantee your loan after all that fuss?”
“He did,” I confirmed. It was one of my life’s greatest stressors, knowing if I failed at running a business, it would cost my dad the ranch—everything we’d ever known, really. I’d never stop being grateful for his support.